The Plane Ride From Hell has been one of the most infamous and legendary stories that have taken place in WWE for the last 20 years. Following the Insurrextion PPV in 2002, the WWE roster made their way back to the United States from the UK, with the flight being full of debauchery and criminal activity that was swept under the rug. A recent Dark Side of the Ring episode shed light on the events that took place and have led to lots of backlash online which has had huge consequences for some of the wrestlers involved. Here is what we learned during the Plane Ride From Hell episode.
Wrestlers Can Drink A Lot
Planes typically come with liquor carts, allowing players to order their favorite drinks during the flight. For most flights, the cart isn’t emptied by the end of it, not when the WWE is on board. The flight was delayed by seven hours, with the WWE roster sat on the runway waiting for take-off. During this time, the roster went through not one, but three full liquor carts before takeoff, as well as numerous pills and other drugs, which contributed to the events that took place. Had the plane not been delayed it is possible that the flight wouldn’t have become as infamous as it did.
Brock Lesnar And Mr. Perfect Almost Killed The Entire Roster
While 30,000 feet above the ocean, Mr. Perfect decided to put shaving foam on the head of a sleeping Brock Lesnar. This caused The Beast to become enraged and chase Mr. Perfect through the place before the two began wrestling and fighting each other. At one point, the two wrestlers smashed into the exit doors of the plane, which caused many wrestlers to panic that they would open and everyone would die. While the doors couldn’t have opened due to the pressure of the cabin, it is possible that damage could have been done which would result in an emergency landing. Mr. Perfect was ultimately fired for this scuffle with The Beast.
Brock Lesnar Flashed Terri Runnels
During the Insurrextion PPV the day before, Brock Lesnar exposed himself to Terri Runnels backstage, in front of her ex-husband Dustin Runnels, who plays the Goldust character. Dustin went on to tell Terri not to “sell it”, which means don’t make a big deal out of it. During the Dark Side of the Ring episode, Terri Runnels described it as being incredibly pink like a baby mouse, she didn’t seem impressed by Lesnar’s “beast”. What is more shocking is that nothing was ever done about it, and Runnels’ ex-husband just watched and let it happen.
Spiking Drinks Is Common In Wrestling
Rob Van Dam revealed that spiking Drinks, or “H-Bombing” was very common in wrestling, with wrestlers doing it to each other, or even local girls to “have their way with them”. Although no names were given, it is horrifying to think that some wrestlers that we idolize as fans may have regular spiked women’s drinks to commit assault on them, yet no action has ever been taken against them. I imagine many wrestlers would see their careers end if RVD named some of the people who did this.
Scott Hall Was Fired Because Of This Flight
It was revealed that Scott Hall was “H-Bombed” by Mr. Perfect during the flight, which left him in a very drunken and drugged state, with him trying to lick the breasts of a flight attendant and needing to be carted through the airport upon landing. These events caused Hall to be immediately fired from the company and, although he was dealing with major substance abuse issues at the time, he was fired because of Mr. Perfect.
Goldust Can’t Sing
During the flight, a drunken Dustin Runnels took over the PA system to try and serenade his ex-wife to try and win her back. Although he was punished for his actions on the flight, JR decided not to fire him because he was in a bad way due to being heartbroken from his recent divorce.
Tommy Dreamer Is Cancelled
During the episode, Tommy Dreamer appeared to be dismissive about the actions and events that took place on the plane, including the main point I’m going to get to next, claiming that the flight attendants “took offense” at what happened. Whether the clip was taken out of context, or whether this was his true belief is unknown, but he swifty suspended from Impact Wrestling following the backlash from the episode.
Ric Flair Sexually Harassed A Flight Attendant
It has been well documented that Ric Flair’s “party trick” is to get naked and put on his robe that he wears to the ring and flash the other wrestlers. According to the Nature Boy, this “party trick” has led to him sleeping with many flight attendants. However, during the Plane Ride From Hell, he took it too far. The episode centered around Heidi Boyle, an attendant that was on board who became cornered by a naked Ric Flair with Flair allegedly trying to get her to touch him. Despite being rejected the Nature Boy continued to harass and pressure Boyle into performing sex acts on him before Dustin Runnels stepped in to diffuse the situation. This led to a lot of backlashes online, with many calling for Ric Flair’s career to be ended. Like many events that took place on the flight, the large amount of alcohol consumed was likely the cause, as well as Flair being in a dark place mentally at the time, and also believing everyone wanted to “ride Space Mountain”. It was very hard and heartbreaking to listen to Boyle recount the events, even more so because this has long been made light of in documentaries, even by WWE themselves, with it being made out to be nothing more than harmless fun, which clearly wasn’t the case as it has emotionally scarred Boyle for almost 20 years.
The Full Story Wasn’t Given
While most of the events that took place were documented in the episode, some were left out, including Goldust harassing a flight attendant by telling her they were going to have sex. As with any show, they do have a strict time limit to adhere to, so that could be the reason it was removed. But it is interesting to wonder what else took place that we don’t know about. The creators of the show record a podcast with Conrad Thomson following the airing, so it will be very interesting to see if any other stories are shared, we might not be done with the fallout from this episode yet.
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